CHINA INVADES!

With Chinese immigrants increasing in folds there is a mushroom effect on new eateries. They cater to the newly minted permanent residents or citizens on the one hand, and romance the old inhabitants on the other. Peking, Shanghai, Hunan, Szechuen, Tianjian and even Gansu or Mongolian ... you name it, you see it. Hot Pot is a big thing becasue it does not require cooking so they are all over the place, copying and 'one-ups' each other in utter confusion. It seems 3 cuisines are not in the fray; Hokkien cum Chiu Chow which are indigenous and, of course, Cantonese which Singapore thinks she already has, but really not as it is not quite the same, at least not yet.

As expected this scene is not widely supported by everyone. We passed by this junction and the taxi driver said, without prompting ' .... do not patronize these places, they offer higher rent to kick out decent restaurants run by Singaporeans who have been around for a long time ... my wife booked there once, I hated it, not our kind of food and far too expensive so I scolded her, told her never to do that again ....'

You see, if a simple meal of anything on the street seldom costs more than S$5 it will be an uphill battle all the way, particularly if your 'Joe on the street' would rant and rave like this.